Diasporas and United Nations Staffing Policy

There is a neat bit of research over on the Not Learning Cantonese in Hong Kong blog.

The blog author, Eric, saw an ad for a position at the United Nations and was rather startled to find that the ad had a strange pre-requisite:  "candidates had to be willing to renounce permanent residence status in any country except the country of their nationality."  He looked into it a bit further and discovered that this isn't just a quirk that applies to that position in particular, but is actual UN staffing policy.

Read the post, What Diplomats Think of Diasporas:  Tracing the History of an Obscure United Nations Staffing Policy, to learn why this policy was put into place. And, yes, there is a strange twist that has to do with the United States' citizenship-based taxation laws... 

I agree with Eric that it is blatant discrimination against the "people who move around."  Very odd for an international organization.  Very much behind the times.  Talk about de-valuing the diasporas and calling into question their loyalty and fitness to represent their countries.